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Tasmanian sperm banks running low

Sperm banks in the Australian island state of Tasmania drained by travellers from the mainland.

For the first time in its 35 year history, the Tasmanian IVF facility will place women wanting to be artificially inseminated on a waiting list as there are only four remaining sperm donors left, reports Stylist magazine.

The director Dr Bill Watkins said the problem was due to more interstate women draining the state's sperm store and fewer men donating sperm. However, he didn’t think a waiting list was the solution.

"If someone comes along and is 38, they don't have a year to wait, time is something they just don't have,” said Dr Bill.

Although sperm donors no longer get paid for their services, and have had to agree to be identifiable to the child when they reach 18 years of age, Health Minister Lara Giddings encouraged men aged 20 to 50 "to look at donating sperm because there are many couples in the community struggling to have a child."